The Money Compass: Where Your Money Went and How to Get It Back

Chapter 8

Who Took My Money Now?

The Collapsing Education System

I have never let my schooling interfere with my education.

—Mark Twain

Under the United States Constitution, the federal government has no authority to hold states “accountable” for their education performance. . .. In the free society envisioned by the founders, schools are held accountable to parents, not federal bureaucrats.

—Ron Paul, Statement on the Congressional Education Plan, May 23, 20011

Investment in education is similar to an investment in stocks. With the right choices, a gain is earned. Future riches can arise from those choices. Yet today’s K–12 educational system takes more away from families than would a stock market crash. For a family’s future generations, it reduces their ability to earn a living and shrinks their levels of success while, at the same time, keeping them in the dark as to why this is occurring. Unlike an investment loss on a stock, losses created by a collapsing educational system create a spiraling generational loss that cannot be rectified. Where to start in this quagmire and bring to light how these losses occur?

Maybe the best place to begin is to identify the players or the stakeholders involved in our educational system. K–12 education is a local community operation in the United States . . . well, that’s the first lie.

The Feds and State Government

Stakeholder number one in our schools is the federal government because they put up a lot more money than parents pay with their ...